The present invention relates to connectivity checking technology for checking connectivity on an Internet Protocol (IP) network in a storage system for transmitting storage data across the IP network.
Practical use has recently been made of IP storage systems in which storage data is transmitted across IP networks. Known technologies for realizing the IP storage systems, for example, include an iSCSI (internet Small Computer System Interface) in which SCSI commands are mapped to an IP, a FCIP (Fiber Channel over IP) in which a plurality of independent FC-LANs (Fiber Channel-Local Area Networks) are connected to each other though IP tunnels, and an iFCP (internet Fiber Channel Protocol) for mapping and routing FC (Fiber Channel) addresses and IP addresses. In IP storage systems based on the iSCSI protocol, for example, iSCSI sessions are run on TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connections via an IP network to transmit storage data across the IP network.
An IP storage system generally comprises a plurality of connecting ports for connecting to an IP network, and a target computer for providing a prescribed storage volume, or storage area, via a prescribed connecting port among the plurality of connecting ports to an initiator computer connected to the IP network. The prescribed connecting port is pre-configured on the target computer side for a data communication path between the initiator computer and the target computer. The initiator computer establishes a communication session with the target computer via the prescribed connecting port which has been pre-configured for the data communication path, so as to utilize the prescribed storage volume provided by the target computer. Japanese Published Unexamined Application 2003-345631, for example, discloses an IP storage system for transmitting storage data across an IP network.